Thursday, October 06, 2005

Spain: Get Over It!

Much like other countries that have legalized same-sex marriage, those in Spain continue to poll that they are getting on with their lives. They would like the anti-gay and other reactionary forces to do the same.

In the latest poll, a little under 30% would like the right-wing party to try to overturn this civil right. Over twice as many would not.

The conservative Popular Party lost its long-term grip on the government in April last year. It had hoped to use this as a wedge issue. Unfortunately for the PP, numbers continue to go the wrong way.

The recent poll by Instituto Opina (site in Spanish, of course) was of 1,000 Spaniards on October first. The margin for error was 3.1%.

The question and results were:

The Popular Party (PP) has presented a legal recourse that seeks to ban same-sex marriage. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Positive

29.9%

Negative

60.0%

Not sure

7.9%

No reply

2.2%

PP leader Mariano Rajoy had very similar tactics to some U.S. conservatives. He had civil unions in his platform, but played the religious card. "This is not about removing anyone’s rights, but it is a different thing when these unions are defined as marriages," he said.